Spies Like Us
by jirle
Summary: Strange things are happening in the wizarding world and it is the job of our best and brightest to figure out what is going on and how to stop the newest threat. Eventual HG/SS and others. AU, OOC, mild slash later on, nothing graphic. Rating M for now.


This is a new story which has been talking to me for a while. It is outlined, but not completely written. I am in need of a beta , if you are willing and able please PM me. You will notice the nods to Alias here and there, it was one of my favorite TV shows. The intention is to update one chapter every week, but I don't have a set schedule yet.

Most things you recognize belong to the talented J.K. Rowling. I am just taking them along on a little adventure. This is an AU fic, I chose some of my favorite characters to bring back to life in my world. It will eventually have HG/SS pairing along with several others. Reviews are truly welcomed, along with real constructive criticism. I try to respond to all of my reviews, so please leave your name.

Spies Like Us – Chapter 1 - And So It Begins

**St-Remy-de-Provence – France **

"Monk, this is Mountaineer - I have the package." The svelte blonde tucked the parchment into her beaded bag and slipped out of the glass doors to the stone balcony. She took a quick minute to note the attention to detail in the suite. It was quite lovely, looking like a Roman villa, with stone and marble accents. In another time, another world, she would have truly enjoyed a proper visit here. With a quick wave of her wand a wire wound around her slender wrist and extended to the roof, pulling her swiftly to safety.

On the roof Hostellerie du Vallon de Valrugues, the tall dark man was waiting holding the two skeletal creatures. The blonde quickly made her way over to the man, giving him the thumbs-up signal and patting her hip in response to his inquiring look. He nodded and disillusioning themselves, they mounted quickly and flew away into the night.

**12 Grimmauld Place – London**

The garden at the London town home heard the two thestrals landing with a thud and the beat of hoofs while the riders slowed their mounts. "Kingsley, no matter how many times I do this, I still bloody _hate_ flying." The blonde, removing her disillusion charm, shimmered into existence and Kingsley tapped his head reminding her that she needed to change her appearance. "Oh!" said Hermione twisting a dial on what looked like a wristwatch, but which actually was a sophisticated device which held polyjuice potion as well as an antidote.

Back in her 'regular body' Hermione twisted her curly brown locks into a bun and checked her bag to ensure it was still at her waist. The beaded bag had been with her through a lot and she was meticulous to the bounds of being obsessive about its whereabouts. She and Kingsley entered the back door of the building and were greeted by a bouncing bubble-gum haired woman hugging them both in a grip that belied her petit size.

"Mione, Kingsley! You are back already! We didn't expect you until tomorrow." Tonks exclaimed. "Everything go as planned?" Kingsley nodded, extracting himself from his partner, giving her his patented smile. Tonks jerked her head through the room at the other door leading into the house. "Come then, let's get you debriefed. He is waiting for you in the Vault." Waving at the other occupants of the kitchen, several people were having tea and a few wizards playing chess at the far end of the long table, the pair followed Tonks through the ball room into what used to be the dining room. Since everyone ate in the large kitchen, the dining room was converted into 'the Vault', a high security room with all kinds of inventions and other gadgets which looked quite like a command center in the muggle movies. That was its purpose after all.

After Vold War II, as most here liked to call it, all appeared to slowly go back to normal. Kingsley had worked with so many others to make repairs to the wizarding world, to the Ministry and especially Hogwarts. A few weeks into the reconstruction, the ministry began throwing parties and handing out awards in an attempt to give the wizarding community a lift. So many funerals, such destruction were wearing on the community and the MOM wanted to raise spirits.

In a spectacular ceremony, the Golden Trio and the members of the Order of the Phoenix were inducted to the Order of Merlin. The trio gained First Class standing as well as a few others who were deeply involved in the conflict. Kingsley then gave a rousing speech praising all that were involved and made the surprise announcement. There were two additional recipients. From behind the curtain stepped a very much alive Albus Dumbledore. The spangle robed Dumbledore came forwards and spoke. He and Snape had conspired with Kingsley and a very few selected Order members to fake his death. Not only that – Severus Snape, the dark hero was alive too. He was quite ill from Nagini's mauling, but with time and care he would recover. The smoke was practically coming off of Rita Skeeter's quill she was writing so quickly. For a change, the news was reported swiftly and accurately. In the weeks to come, Rita's byline announced the recovery of the most recent Headmaster as well as his resignation and subsequent absence from society.

After a year, legal elections were held and Kingsley gladly handed the reigns of politics over to ones he thought were vastly more qualified. He went back to being the head of the Auror Department and being Tonks partner. The Golden Trio became a duo when Hermione returned to Hogwarts with Ginny for their NEWT year. The boys went into Auror training and took their offered test bypass. The world went by as it should and life went back to normal. Well, as normal as life can be.

Dumbledore, being the semi-omniscient man that he was, knew that this calm was only a façade. There were lower level Death Eaters that were never captured, and many more sympathizers that were above suspicion because of their position in society. Additionally, Voldemort had been actively recruiting outside of the UK when Harry 'cut off the head' of the Death Eaters. What was left was a myriad of Death Eater cells. They didn't appear to be organized, but Merlin help them if they became so. Dumbledore decided that he would not go back to Hogwarts and would instead dedicate his time to the potential problems, reviving the Order of the Phoenix.

Dumbledore recruited only the best and the brightest to the group to augment his remaining members. For one, Hermione Granger was hired right out of Hogwarts. To the world, she hired by Dumbledore to help him write him research for a new set of books he was writing on wizarding artifacts. This gave her a cover and ability to move about with few questions. Fred and George retired from the day to day running of their shop to go strictly into 'research and development'. They still produced many quality joke products, but for the most part they created inventions for the Order and provided tech support during Order missions. The Polyjuice Watch was one of their earlier inventions. Harry, having signed number 12 Grimmauld place over to the Order (too many bad memories) was one of Dumbledore's eyes in the ministry giving important information about the day to day workings, but Harry wasn't privy to the day to day activities of the Order any longer. Dumbledore thought that he had done enough for the cause and wanted to let him live a normal life for a while. Luna Lovegood was another recruit who was able to use her cover of working at her father's paper and her pure blood status to move about society and report back interesting rumors. On his recovery, Severus Snape, who never wanted to go back to teaching, became the Order's chief potion maker and worked with the twins on research and development.

In the last year there had been mumblings of a mythical text. Nostradamus, the famous apothecary and seer, had several unpublished handwritten works that were long sought after. No one in recent memory had seen them and they were long thought to be lost. It was rumored that the texts contained fantastic, yet dangerous potions and alchemic recipes. Tonight's mission was to obtain a clue, one that would hopefully give some information on the location of these texts. Additionally, they hoped that the information would lead them to their Potions Master, who had been missing for nearly six months while chasing one of the earlier rumors.

Hermione opened her beaded bag and handed Dumbledore the parchment she recovered from the hotel room. "Have you read this?" Dumbledore asked? She shook her head, and Dumbledore's face had a faint frown handing the parchment back to them to read. Kingsley's eyebrows shot up his forehead, and Hermione exclaimed, "YES! I knew it. The text is real." The parchment was from what looked to be a journal of a fellow potioneer, Roussat, and talked about Nostradamus and his new 'revolutionary' potion that would change the world as they knew it. It went on to explain a little of the nature of the potion. Hermione looked at Dumbledore and said, "There is more here. Severus was really on to something, wasn't he? This potion could end the world as we know it if it gets into the wrong hands. I suppose we are off to..." They all turned sharply as the high security door cracked on the wall and Hermione's jaw dropped rather unattractively on seeing who was there.

End of Chapter 1

(a/n - A ton of info was packed in this chapter. I will come back and explain some more about the Snape/Dumbledore resurrection and other things in later chapters.)


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